Advice to a Young Would-Be Patent Law Scholar - 06 (MERELY and CLEARLY)

I also pointed out that the purpose of a NEVER/ALWAYS rule is not so much to prevent or mandate anything, but to make the writer self-conscious whenever ne starts to violate the rule, which in turn will lead to less and more of the NEVER and ALWAYS behavior, respectively.

The main reasons I do not like words like MERELY and CLEARLY are:

They allow the writer to be sloppy and lazy.

They insult the reader.

If the referenced information is so MERE, the author's previous discussion of it in comparison to other factors ought to have demonstrated its mereness. If the referenced conclusion is so CLEAR, the author's development of the arguments ought to have persuaded us already.

An author who writes MERELY or CLEARLY, either thinks nis readers are stupid or hasn't done nis job (or hopes they are because ne hasn't).

See bullshitbingo.net if you are unfamiliar with the concept. (Unfortunately that site does not have a lawschool version yet.) Other candidates for the bingo card are paradigm, cabined, conversation, any word formed by combining where or there with a preposition (therefrom, whereby, and so on), and just about anything in Latin (the one I dislike the most is vel non). Want to add to the list? Please write a comment!

When I read or hear those clubby bingo words, I immediately look for other signs of a failure to think things through, to marshal the facts carefully, or to structure the argument convincingly, and I almost always find them.

Last, but maybe first,

4. or 1. Using "merely" or "clearly" violates my ALMOST NEVER/ALMOST ALWAYS rule: Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. Instead, color your writing with the nouns and verbs.

Another post, amplifying my reasons to favor nouns and verbs over adjectives and adverbs is coming soon.

2 comments:

There are wonderful photographs of Michigan Law's Lawyers' Club on this site. I see, however, that the author chose to go to Berkeley instead. I'm sure there were good reasons for that decision, but still, I'd say that figuring out how to avoid snow is not necessarily a sign of superior intelligence. Ann Arbor is special in spite of the weather. Being special because of the weather is what I look for in vacation spots.

About Me

ROBERTA J MORRISAB Brown University JD Harvard Law SchoolPhD Columbia University. Member of the Patent Bar and of the Bars of New York and Michigan.
A list of posts on all my blogs is at myunpublishedworks.com/bloglist.htm